In order to forge workpieces with a distinct longitudinal axis, forging machines are used which have three or more rams angularly distributed in one plane, and in particular four rams which are arranged offset at 90.degree. to one another in a cruciform manner. The rams act radially upon a workpiece which is guided longitudinally on the system axis, and are equipped with tools, or dies. Because of the considerable forming capacity of these radial-forming forging machines, a high degree of enclosure, up to complete encirclement, of the workpiece has to be provided in the forming region. To this end, the tools should form a closed pass contour in any operative inner end position of the stroke. For this purpose the tools can be set and fixed in their common plane by means of tool supports on the rams by displacement devices, acting upon the tool supports, as a function of the setting of the inner end position of the stroke of the rams, in such a way that the part of their operating face exceeding the pass-contour dimension is covered by a lateral face of the adjacent tool as disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,796,456, 4,813,263, 4,831,864, 5,293,769, 5,313,816, corresponding to EP 0 228 031 B1, EP 0 260 546 B1, EP 0 549 825 B1.
In the case of known forging machines the tool supports are connected to the rams by releasable clamping members each pressing a support against a front face of a ram, and the tools are connected to the supports, the clamping members being released in order to adjust the tools. Toothed racks are embedded in the front faces of the rams and the faces of the supports facing the said front faces, the toothed racks being provided with teeth orientated transversely to the tool displacement direction and producing positive locking by tooth engagement when the supports are resting against the front faces of the rams. In order to displace the supports transversely to the rams, the supports must be pushed so far away from the front faces of the rams that the teeth become disengaged. The resulting suction can lead to the penetration of dirt (scale) into the gaps between the front faces of the rams and the supports, and therefore to the fastening of the rams and the supports being adversely affected, unless this is counteracted by blowing out air as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,796,456, 4,813,263 (EP 0 228 030 B1).
The object of the invention is to improve the fastenings of the rams and the tool supports of such forging machines in such a way that they are better suited to the rough conditions of forging operations.